Not new but needing a upgrade/new build

[rikdegraaff]

Hello all,

 

First of all, I do not know if this is the right forum-section for a UnRAID build questions, but:

 

I am looking to make an new build for my unRAID server.
My AMD A4-3300 APU is too slow for i.e. Plex transcoding, using VM's and multiple Docker apps.

 

I have about 550 euro to spend, and I have from now some components that I can reuse.

My tower is sufficient to reuse that case, it is a Sharkoon T9 Value Blue case and I would like to build the new one into that case.

I also have a PSU and SATA extension card to reuse.

PSU is a Corsair CX430M (https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Power-Supply-Units/cxm-series-config/p/CP-9020058-NA) and SATA extension card is a Supermicro AOC-SAS2LP-MV8 (https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/accessories/addon/AOC-SAS2LP-MV8.php)

 

My build list that I have now is as following (prices are in the Netherlands as we speak):

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (boxed) (€ 199,--)

Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO (for an upgrade to newer cpu's in a serveral years maybe, a B550 chipset) (€ 94,--)

GPU (as CPU doesn't have dedicated graphics): Powercolor Red Dragon Radeon RX 550 4GB GDDR5 (€ 92,--)

DDR4 Memory: G.Skill Aegis F4-3000C16D-32GISB (€ 120,--).

 

Grand Total of:  € 505,--

 

I've picked a fairly cheap GPU just for video, I would like to leave everything to Plex Media Server, and they say there isn't a beefy GPU needed for transcoding up to 1080p.
And some random DDR4 memory, because all the memory is fast, needed more, 32GB instead of 16GB for VM's and DOcker applications.

Main question:

Is this a futureproof (4 to 8 years) build?
And if not, what should you recommend me??

 

Thank you very much.
Greetings, Rik

[Hoopster]

1 hour ago, rikdegraaff said:

I've picked a fairly cheap GPU just for video, I would like to leave everything to Plex Media Server, and they say there isn't a beefy GPU needed for transcoding up to 1080p.

If one of your main uses is Plex and if you do a lot of trancoding, keep in mind the following:

• You should be direct playing everything locally, if possible.  Transcoding should only be an issue if you are playing on some mobile devices (remote or local), remote clients over limited bandwidth or less-capable local clients that force the server to transcode. Make sure your media is in a format your clients can handle locally.
• Software (CPU) transcoding requires 2000 passmarks per 1080p stream being transcoded to a compatible format/bitrate.  Software transcoding of 4K content requires 17,000 passmarks (according to Plex, Inc.) so you could not do that with this setup
• The Ryzen 5 3600 has a passmark score of >17,000 so you should be able to transcode, in theory, up to 8 simultaneous 1080p streams while allowing the ~2000 passmarks unRAID needs for its processing overhead.  This, of course, assumes nothing else is eating up CPU cycles.
• You will not be able to do hardware (GPU) transcoding with this setup as Plex only officially supports Intel iGPUs and Nvidia PCIe GPUs for hardware transcoding on Linux/Docker.  Some have got hardware transcoding to work with AMD GPUs and a fair amount of manual driver modifications, so, it may be possible, but not out of the box.

If you intend to run only Docker containers and, a couple of light use VMS, this is a much more capable system than your current equipment can provide.  You will not likely be able to run more than one heavily used VM, but at 6 cores/12 threads, you can have a dedicated VM (4 cores/threads, 8GB RAM), possibly an additional light use VM, a lot of docker containers and Plex with reasonable CPU transcoding capabilities when that is needed.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Hoopster

[Hoopster]

9 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

EDIT: I don't really understand what you mean but I thought this build is great for Plex, VMs and some dockers.
If not, can you please tell me a better build for approx. 500 euros?

I was just pointing out the requirements for Plex to do software transcoding with CPU only.  The CPU you have chosen can do it (up to 8 1080p streams) no problem.

 

If you want GPU trancoding (free up your CPU for other uses), you will need an Nvidia GPU as those are supported by Plex on Linux/Docker out of the box.

 

See this chart for a list of NVidia GPUs that are supported for hardware encoding (NVENC) and decoding (NVDEC).  The GeForce GTX cards listed can do up to 3 simultaneous streams and the Professional (Quadro P2000 being the most popular with unRAID users) and Server class cards have "unrestricted" streams.  Some have tested the P2000 with 15-20 streams.

[rikdegraaff]

Sorry, I reacted way too fast with my (now deleted) message.
I didn't understand enough of the terms you were referring to. My bad.
So I will write a new message instead.

First, thank you for taking time to reply.
So if I use this build, am I be able to use Plex Media Server, via docker, to transcode max. 2-3 1080p streams?

I only (can) play my files via Chromecast in 1080p.
But is this build really sufficient enough to provide max. 2 VM's + 10 docker images and transcode to my max. 2 chromecasts at 1080p at the same time.
Or is the CPU too weak for this work?

Edit: I don't know how GPU or CPU transcoding works, I saw plex as a smart solution to my problems.

[Hoopster]

12 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

So if I use this build, am I be able to use Plex Media Server, via docker, to transcode max. 2-3 1080p streams?

Yes.  No problem there as your CPU is more than capable of that with 1080p content.

 

12 minutes ago, rikdegraaff said:

But is this build really sufficient enough to provide max. 2 VM's + 10 docker images and transcode to my max. 2 chromecasts at 1080p at the same time.

That very much depends on what those VMs are intended to do.  If they are not CPU-intensive VMs that are eating up a lot of RAM, you could be fine with this setup.  Personally, for a heavy use VM, I would allocate at least 4 cores/threads to each VM and 8GB RAM. 

 

In your proposed setup, heavy use VMs would take 8 cores/threads and 16 GB RAM, leaving you only 4 cores/threads and 16GB RAM for unRAID and Plex.  This might not be enough if you need to transcode while both VMs are running.  The RAM is OK, but, only 2 cores and 2 threads for Plex and unRAID would push it to the limit.

 

If both VMs are not running at the same time you need to do simultaneous CPU transcoding of 2-3 streams for Plex, you should not have a problem.

 

If you had GPU transcoding instead of CPU transcoding, even the VMs running at the same time would not cause you a problem.

 

It might be worth looking into a 8 core/16 thread CPU (if that is in your budget) to give you just a bit more overhead or an Nvidia GPU to do the transcoding.  Again, a lot depends on what the VMs are used for.

Edited January 26, 2021 by Hoopster

[rikdegraaff]

The VM's are mostly for me to get in to different Linux operating systems.
Mostly only webbrowsing and some lightweight software.

I don't want to use the VM's extensively, because I have some i5 PCs for daily usage.

I am going to research which 8c/16t CPUs are in the same price range as the CPU I mentioned in my first post.
Al last, my maximum budget for this build is at 600 euros for new components.
As said I would like to reuse my SATA card and PSU (if enough power).

Edit: I thought that the 3600 would do the trick, but am I wrong? Or does the 3600 is okay but combined with a better GPU? And if so what GPU would be recommended...?

Edit2 : Is GPU transcoding free with Plex Media Server (I use the most basic free edition and don't have the €€€ to upgrade.)?

[Hoopster]

1 hour ago, rikdegraaff said:

Edit2 : Is GPU transcoding free with Plex Media Server (I use the most basic free edition and don't have the €€€ to upgrade.)?

No. Hardware transcoding requires a Plex Pass.

 

1 hour ago, rikdegraaff said:

The VM's are mostly for me to get in to different Linux operating systems.
Mostly only webbrowsing and some lightweight software.

Then you may be fine with the Ryzen 5 3600 as you could probably just assign 1 core and its associated thread to each VM leaving 4 cores and 4 threads for unRAID and Plex.

 

1 hour ago, rikdegraaff said:

I am going to research which 8c/16t CPUs are in the same price range as the CPU I mentioned in my first post.

The Ryzen 7 3700x is the cheapest 3rd generation Ryzen 8 core/16 thread CPU.

[rikdegraaff]

Thanks for all the info @Hoopster.

I hoped that Plex was a free and easy solution, but if I need to pay, in my opinion only for GPU encoding, I need to let it pass.

 

Also am I, with knowing this, not looking anymore for a upgrade.

Then is my AMD A4-3300 sufficient enough for me.

Again, thanks for the help!

 

Kind regards,

Rik

[Hoopster]

20 hours ago, rikdegraaff said:

Then is my AMD A4-3300 sufficient enough for me.

Free Plex, of course, will still do software (CPU) transcoding.  Plex Pass is only required for hardware (GPU) transcoding in addition to its other benefits.

 

Your current CPU has a passmark score of less than 1000, so, according to Plex, it is not capable of doing even one 1080p transcoding stream; especially since the recommendation for unRAID is an additional 2000 passmarks for system overhead.

 

If you want a good transcoding experience with Plex, some sort of upgrade is in order.  The Ryzen 5 3600 you were considering has a very good 17,000+ passmark score.